Meet Saudi Arabia's new ruler, King Salman

Upon the death of his half-brother, King Abdullah, Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud was named king of Saudi Arabia. This was no surprise — King Salman, 79, had been crown prince and designated successor since 2012, he'd been covering many of 90-year-old Abdullah's duties in recent months, and the Saudi throne has passed down from one of King Abdulaziz al Saud's 45 (or more) sons to the next since the kingdom founder died in 1953. The new crown prince is Abdulaziz's youngest surviving son, Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, 69. He is King Salman's half-brother.

Salman is reputed to be popular among the sprawling royal family and is seen as a mediator of inter-family conflicts. He was governor of Riyadh from 1955 to 1960, then from 1963 to 2011, overseeing the growth of the Saudi capital from an isolated desert town to a major international city. In 2011, he was named defense minister, then crown prince the next year. There are concerns about his health: Salman has had at least one stroke, lost partial use of one of his arms, and is rumored to be suffering from dementia.

After Prince Muqrin's death, succession will likely travel down to the next generation — and with so many eligible princes from different branches of the family, many analysts are expecting a dynastic struggle. In the short term, with trouble at the kingdom's borders and low oil prices, Saudi watchers don't expect King Salman to change many policies of his predecessor.

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Update: King Salman quickly named Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as Deputy Crown Prince, making him the first Abulaziz grandson in line for the throne. Mohammed has been interior minister since 2012; he is the late Crown Prince Nayef's son.